Earth Watch Report – Extreme Weather

RSOE EDIS

At least 30 houses were destroyed after strong winds and heavy rains struck a surprised village in Tabina, Zamboanga del Sur, the police reported Tuesday. Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, spokesman of Police Regional Office 9 (PRO), said no one was reported hurt in the disaster that hit Barangay New Oroquita. Quoting belated reports, Huesca said that the “sudden storm” struck the village on Friday night. Engr. Rey Rubio of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said at least 100 residents were forced to leave their homes during the onslaught. He said several coconut trees were also toppled by strong winds. Rubio said that the incident was not immediately reported to authorities because the remote village had not phone signal and that only a few vehicle pass through the area. He said the disaster’s damage was pegged at P500,000.

4 children feared dead in Zamboanga Sibugay landslide

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Four children were feared dead after they were buried alive in a huge landslide in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay, police reported Thursday.

Insp. Ariel Huesca, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Police Office, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer via a text message that the children were resting in an abandoned house in Purok 4 in Barangay (village) Sayao around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday when soil, mud and rocks moved amid heavy rains.

5 killed, 17,000 displaced by Zamboanga flooding

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines— While Zamboanga City has barely moved on from the fighting between government troops and Moro National Liberation Front last month, deaths from the incessant heavy rains spawned by the intertropical convergence zone in the city for the past few days rose to five on Wednesday.

More than 17,000 others displaced when floods caused by continuous heavy rain swept through the city and outlying villages during the past week, the authorities said.

Although much of the floods have receded, some places remain under water as the rains have continued.

ITCZ brings heavy rains

Maribel Enriquez, chief of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration station in Zamboanga City, said the Intertropical Convergence Zone was causing all the rain.

“It’s been there hovering and it is the reason why we have long hours of rain since last week, making our soil saturated with water,” Enriquez said.

“When our soil is saturated with water, definitely, we are going to experience flooding and landslide,” she added.

The five-day incessant rains with occasional strong winds battered the city since Friday last week inundated 6.47 hectares of farmlands and fishponds.

Damage to crops was estimated to cost P57.9 million.

Sheila Covarrubias, the city’s information officer, said records of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center show that a total of 25 barangays, or city districts and villages, were flooded, affecting 4,802 families or 17,026 individuals.

Five persons were reported to have drowned in the villages of Tugbungan, San Roque, San Jose Gusu and Putik.

Chief Insp. Ariel Huesca, spokesperson of the Western Mindanao Regional Police Office, identified two of those killed as Edwina Flores, 58, and her helper Rosanna Fabella, both residents of San Roque.

Earth Watch Report – Biological Hazards – Mass Animal Deaths

Fishermen in this city are at a quandary where and when they would get their next income after the rains brought by low pressure area, now tropical depression Agaton (international name: Lingling), as well as a massive fish kill in the area, has made fishing almost impossible. The stench of rotting fish along Barangay Dahican, Sitio Maitom, Kinhason 2 in Mati City is enough to get one’s attention. The shoreline, which used to be home to seashells, corals and drift woods, has become a deathbed for hundreds of small fish species. “When it rains non-stop in this area we usually see dead fishes floating but this is the first time I saw so many of them dead,” said fisherman Leonardo Bacor in the local dialect. Mr. Bacor, who has spent most of his 57 years along these shores, was among those who first saw thousands of dead fishes floating along the Dahican River. Thousands of dead fishes have also been seen in nearby Sitio Guang-Guang. He said it has been raining non-stop for almost a week now and with almost a ton of fish floating dead along the river most of the fishermen in the area like him have not been able to go fishing this week. “The other fishermen who went out in the sea were able to get very small fishes and in very small quantities after the fish kill,” he added. While he owns his boat, Mr. Bacor has become frustrated with what is happening considering that he has seven children to feed, two are now in college. He said they have not yet heard or has received any support from the local government.Without other options for livelihood, Mr. Bacor and the other fishermen in the area gathered the small fishes washed ashore by the tide and left them to dry under the sun for bulad (dried fish). His wife Felicisima, said they had no choice but to eat the dried fish, which her husband made out of the dead fishes washed ashore by the tide. “We don’t have banana or other crops to eat so the only option we have now is to eat the fish,” she added. Rebecca Purgatoryo, a 54-year-old fish vendor, spent most of the days last week chatting with Felicisima and the other housewives in their area since she does not have anything to sell. She said she used to bring up to 30 kilograms of fish to sell everyday but with the fish kill, she has nothing. The fishermen said the people who know about the fish kill are wary about buying fishes in Mati’s wet markets nowadays for fear that these might be contaminated with chemicals. Most of the residents in the area where the fish kill happened have been suffering from fever and gastrointestinal problems. They claim even their water sources might have been affected by whatever it is that caused the fish kill. Most of the residents source their water from deep wells. “We are not sure what caused the fish kill but we have already sent a fish sample to the laboratory to test for possible pesticide or other content,” said Fatma M. Idris, regional director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR-11).

Ms. Idris, who personally went to Sitio Maitom to check on the reported fish kill, said it is best to have the samples tested for content to put all doubts and rumors to rest as to what really caused the fish kill. BFAR-11’s technical people also went to the area to get more water samples for laboratory testing. The city government of Mati has already created a task force to focus on the fish kill. Mayor Carlo Luis P. Rabat said he wants to clarify that they did not give any order for the cessation of fishing in the area despite the incident. However, he asked the fishermen to bury the dead fishes in safe areas. “If they make dried fishes out of the dead ones, then that might prove unhealthy and dangerous to health,” he said. Officials from the BFAR’s field office in Mati said there was zero visibility underwater in the areas where the fish kill happened. They also reported low water salinity and low oxygen levels in the water. Mr. Rabat was concerned about the period of recovery after the fish kill but Ms. Idris said it will depend on how long the area is cleared of the dead fishes first. “We have to remove all the dead fishes in the area and the waters before we can conduct a thorough cleanup,” BFAR field staff Archie Samson said.

Residents stand next to a long earthen wall which formed following the Oct. 15 earthquake in Barangay Anonang in Inabanga, Bohol. Phivolcs scientists said the wall is the face of a previously unknown fault line which caused the magnitude 7.2 quake. FREEMAN NEWS PHOTO

Instrumental Intensity

Tectonic Summary

The Philippine Sea plate is bordered by the larger Pacific and Eurasia plates and the smaller Sunda plate. The Philippine Sea plate is unusual in that its borders are nearly all zones of plate convergence. The Pacific plate is subducted into the mantle, south of Japan, beneath the Izu-Bonin and Mariana island arcs, which extend more than 3,000 km along the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea plate. This subduction zone is characterized by rapid plate convergence and high-level seismicity extending to depths of over 600 km. In spite of this extensive zone of plate convergence, the plate interface has been associated with few great (M>8.0) ‘megathrust’ earthquakes. This low seismic energy release is thought to result from weak coupling along the plate interface (Scholz and Campos, 1995). These convergent plate margins are also associated with unusual zones of back-arc extension (along with resulting seismic activity) that decouple the volcanic island arcs from the remainder of the Philippine Sea Plate (Karig et al., 1978; Klaus et al., 1992).

South of the Mariana arc, the Pacific plate is subducted beneath the Yap Islands along the Yap trench. The long zone of Pacific plate subduction at the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea Plate is responsible for the generation of the deep Izu-Bonin, Mariana, and Yap trenches as well as parallel chains of islands and volcanoes, typical of circum-pacific island arcs. Similarly, the northwestern margin of the Philippine Sea plate is subducting beneath the Eurasia plate along a convergent zone, extending from southern Honshu to the northeastern coast of Taiwan, manifested by the Ryukyu Islands and the Nansei-Shoto (Ryukyu) trench. The Ryukyu Subduction Zone is associated with a similar zone of back-arc extension, the Okinawa Trough. At Taiwan, the plate boundary is characterized by a zone of arc-continent collision, whereby the northern end of the Luzon island arc is colliding with the buoyant crust of the Eurasia continental margin offshore China.

Along its western margin, the Philippine Sea plate is associated with a zone of oblique convergence with the Sunda Plate. This highly active convergent plate boundary extends along both sides the Philippine Islands, from Luzon in the north to the Celebes Islands in the south. The tectonic setting of the Philippines is unusual in several respects: it is characterized by opposite-facing subduction systems on its east and west sides; the archipelago is cut by a major transform fault, the Philippine Fault; and the arc complex itself is marked by active volcanism, faulting, and high seismic activity. Subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate occurs at the eastern margin of the archipelago along the Philippine Trench and its northern extension, the East Luzon Trough. The East Luzon Trough is thought to be an unusual example of a subduction zone in the process of formation, as the Philippine Trench system gradually extends northward (Hamburger et al., 1983). On the west side of Luzon, the Sunda Plate subducts eastward along a series of trenches, including the Manila Trench in the north, the smaller less well-developed Negros Trench in the central Philippines, and the Sulu and Cotabato trenches in the south (Cardwell et al., 1980). At its northern and southern terminations, subduction at the Manila Trench is interrupted by arc-continent collision, between the northern Philippine arc and the Eurasian continental margin at Taiwan and between the Sulu-Borneo Block and Luzon at the island of Mindoro. The Philippine fault, which extends over 1,200 km within the Philippine arc, is seismically active. The fault has been associated with major historical earthquakes, including the destructive M7.6 Luzon earthquake of 1990 (Yoshida and Abe, 1992). A number of other active intra-arc fault systems are associated with high seismic activity, including the Cotabato Fault and the Verde Passage-Sibuyan Sea Fault (Galgana et al., 2007).

Relative plate motion vectors near the Philippines (about 80 mm/yr) is oblique to the plate boundary along the two plate margins of central Luzon, where it is partitioned into orthogonal plate convergence along the trenches and nearly pure translational motion along the Philippine Fault (Barrier et al., 1991). Profiles B and C reveal evidence of opposing inclined seismic zones at intermediate depths (roughly 70-300 km) and complex tectonics at the surface along the Philippine Fault.

Several relevant tectonic elements, plate boundaries and active volcanoes, provide a context for the seismicity presented on the main map. The plate boundaries are most accurate along the axis of the trenches and more diffuse or speculative in the South China Sea and Lesser Sunda Islands. The active volcanic arcs (Siebert and Simkin, 2002) follow the Izu, Volcano, Mariana, and Ryukyu island chains and the main Philippine islands parallel to the Manila, Negros, Cotabato, and Philippine trenches.

Seismic activity along the boundaries of the Philippine Sea Plate (Allen et al., 2009) has produced 7 great (M>8.0) earthquakes and 250 large (M>7) events. Among the most destructive events were the 1923 Kanto, the 1948 Fukui and the 1995 Kobe (Japan) earthquakes (99,000, 5,100, and 6,400 casualties, respectively), the 1935 and the 1999 Chi-Chi (Taiwan) earthquakes (3,300 and 2,500 casualties, respectively), and the 1976 M7.6 Moro Gulf and 1990 M7.6 Luzon (Philippines) earthquakes (7,100 and 2,400 casualties, respectively). There have also been a number of tsunami-generating events in the region, including the Moro Gulf earthquake, whose tsunami resulted in more than 5000 deaths.

Four killed after 7.2 quake hits southern Philippines

A strong 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Philippines early on Tuesday causing at least four deaths in a building collapse. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says there is no threat of a Pacific-wide tsunami.

The epicenter of the tremor was located at a depth of 56.8 km around Bohol island, to the north of Mindanao island, the US Geological Survey reports. Within minutes the quake was followed by two aftershocks of 5.4 and 5.3 magnitude.

Four people were killed in a building collapse on Bohol island, Reuters quoted disaster officials telling Philippines radio.

The governor of Bohol confirmed that several buildings, including a church and the former city hall, were damaged in the quake.

The intertropical convergence zone affecting Mindanao badly hit Zamboanga City on Tuesday, making some roads impassable to vehicles and resulting in cancellation of flights. The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) announced Tuesday that some major roads in Zamboanga City have become impassable to vehicles due to flooding brought about by heavy rains. The OCD added that vehicles were stalled along thoroughfares, including in Pilar Street, due to the floods. Radio reports said many families were evacuated from their homes in areas such as in Divisoria district. The OCD stated that the Coast Guard and Philippine Navy are helping in the evacuation operations. Zamboanga City Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar ordered the suspension of classes and work in government non-frontline services due to the floods. The mayor also called off work in government offices that are not involved in frontline services.

…

Heavy rains flood Zambo; flights cancelled

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The intertropical convergence zone affecting Mindanao badly hit Zamboanga City on Tuesday, making some roads impassable to vehicles and resulting in cancellation of flights.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) announced Tuesday that some major roads in Zamboanga City have become impassable to vehicles due to flooding brought about by heavy rains.

The OCD added that vehicles were stalled along thoroughfares, including in Pilar Street, due to the floods.

Radio reports said many families were evacuated from their homes in areas such as in Divisoria district.

The OCD stated that the Coast Guard and Philippine Navy are helping in the evacuation operations.

Zamboanga City Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar ordered the suspension of classes and work in government non-frontline services due to the floods. The mayor also called off work in government offices that are not involved in frontline services.

Negros, N. Cotabato folk flee floodwaters

Army troopers were called out and helicopters dispatched on Sunday to rescue residents trapped on rooftops after torrential rains triggered unprecedented flash floods in parts of Negros and Mindanao.

One of the worst hit was Bayawan City in Negros Oriental where the overflowing Bayawan River raised floodwaters to more than the average person’s height, forcing thousands to flee their homes, rescuers said.

Reports from Dumaguete City said at least 4,000 persons were forced to abandon their homes in Bayawan and three towns in Negros Oriental’s third district.

Also affected by floods were the towns of Sta. Catalina, Basay and Siaton, said Allen Froilan Cabaron, Office of Civil Defense Negros Oriental coordinator.

Troops from the Philippine Army had to take rubber boats from the Negros Oriental State University (Norsu) Bayawan campus in Barangay (village) Carranoche, some five kilometers from the city proper, as the floodwaters made streets impassable by vehicles.

Two Army helicopters were dispatched from Cebu to assist in rescue operations.

Cabaron said rains had been pounding the towns since Friday. Badly affected were nine barangays in Bayawan—Banga, Poblacion, Maninihon, Villareal, Tuba, Ubos, Pagatban, Kalumboyan and Nangka.

Evacuees stayed in the city gym (500), an elementary school in Pagatban (50), the Bayawan National High School (2,523), Norsu (350), the Integrated Business Center (1,000) and an elementary school in Maninihon (20). Cabaron said the number was expected to rise since some residents were trapped on the roofs of their homes.

In southern Negros Occidental, more than 1,000 persons in three cities and four towns had to flee their homes.

At least 297 families in three villages in Talisay City, Cebu were urged to evacuate their homes after huge waves hit the shorelines near their areas on Sunday evening. Talisay Public Information Officer Vince Monterde said Monday that around 9 p.m. of Sunday, the residents noticed huge waves and the waters went inside their houses. Monterde said the City Government convinced the affected families to evacuate, but they refused to move out, believing that the situation will go back to normal. The affected families include 95 in the village of Dumlog, 175 in Poblacion, and 32 in Cansojong. A total of 11 houses and two small fishing vessels were also destroyed, according to a report by the Talisay City Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Monterde said Talisay City Mayor Johnny delos Reyes has ordered the city’s social office to provide relief goods for the affected families. Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration Central Visayas Chief Oscar Tabada said the huge waves were brought by the southwest monsoon. As of this posting, the situation in Talisay City is back to normal, but Monterde advised the residents to go immediately to the nearest evacuation centers if the huge waves will strike back again. The evacuation areas are in barangay halls and at the Talisay City Sports Center.

…

Long night of dread for affected families

LEZHEL Genobisa’s family managed only a few hours of sleep yesterday morning after their home and a few other houses were washed out by waves caused by high tide in sitio Litmon, barangay Dumlog in Talisay City last Sunday evening.

“My husband, three children and I were shaking in fear. I saw the waves hitting the houses,” she said.

Genobisa, 23, lived near the dike that was supposed to help buffer the waves which reached as high as five to seven feet last Sunday.

Some families stayed across the coastal roads while others stayed at the Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel yesterday.

Genobisa is staying in a wooden waiting shed across the road where her house used to stand.

Her family was able to save two boxes and five sacks of clothes as they evacuated.

“We first made sure our children were safe here (waiting shed),” she told Cebu Daily News.

Another resident, Jovelyn Jubay and her 5-year-old son, were stranded inside their house for 30 minutes.

“I already heard the strong waves at 8 p.m and when I checked, the sea level had risen. I was alarmed,” Jubay said.

She and her son tried to leave but a column from her neighbor’s house fell and blocked their doorway.

Surge hits Talisay City villages; 297 families flee

CEBU (Updated) — Close to 300 families living in three coastal barangays in Talisay City were forced to evacuate after meter-high waves hit their houses last Sunday night.

A government weather observer said the huge waves were caused by the seasonal southwest monsoon wind or habagat, enhanced by surges caused by Typhoon Ramil (international codename: Danas).

About 297 families living in Barangays Poblacion, Dumlog and Cansojong were forced to leave their homes after huge waves hit their houses around 9 p.m. last Sunday.

Vince Monterde, Talisay City public information officer, said that as of Monday, 170 families from Poblacion, 95 families from Dumlog and 32 families from Cansojong were displaced by the huge waves.

An estimated 50 houses were damaged or destroyed.

Baby Sanchez, 42, told Sun.Star Cebu that while she and her family were watching TV, huge waves from the sea suddenly entered her house through the windows.

Sanchez, a resident of Sitio Kalubihan in Poblacion, said that by the time she and her family got out of their house, their neighbors were running frantically away from the seaside.

Waves reaching about 1.6 meters high pummeled their houses and flooded their seaside village with knee-deep water.

Sanchez said those were the biggest waves she had ever seen. “Sobra ra kaayo to kataas, murag mulapas naman siguro sa tawo (They were too high; they towered over people’s heads),” she added.

6 years ago

As families scrambled to avoid the storm surge, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office sent a team to Talisay City. Officer Niel Sanchez said some 795 individuals were evacuated to the Poblacion Sports Complex.

Back in 2007, the residents were advised to move since they were living in the easement area, said Sanchez.

At least 20 persons were killed and several were missing in landslides and floods in Zambales Monday at the height of heavy rains spawned by the storm-enhanced southwest monsoon, reports said. Subic Mayor Jun Khonghun said in a radio interview that 10 were killed in a landslide in Cawag village in Subic that occurred at about 6 a.m. Monday. Two were still missing. Meanwhile, in San Isidro village, five were killed and one was still missing. A report from First Lieutenant Yvonne Ricaforte, Civil Military Operations officer of the Army’s 24th Infantry Battalion, said that a landslide in San Marcelino town at about 6 a.m. killed four persons. In Castillejos town, one was killed from landslides and four were still missing. Based on reports from the Office of Civil Defense in Central Luzon, a 67-year-old woman drowned in the province. In a separate television interview, Khonghun said that roads in Subic were already impassable and “isolated.” Speedboats were used to get around the area. “We are asking for help from the national government. Please assist us,” he said. The heavy rains in Luzon were caused by the prevailing southwest monsoon that is strengthened by a storm over the Pacific Ocean. “Pabuk” will not enter the country but it will trigger heavy rains.

Heavy rains leave 20 dead in Philippines

Residents carry a girl on a rubber raft to safety in Olongapo City, north of Manila on Monday, after torrential monsoon rains pounded Luzon island, worsened by Typhoon Usagi. — AFP

OLONGAPO CITY, Philippines — Monsoon rains worsened by Typhoon Usagi pounded the Philippines for the third day on Monday, causing floods and landslides that left 20 people dead and others stranded on rooftops, officials said.

The most severely affected area was the province of Zambales, about 80 kilometers (51 miles) northwest of Manila where heavy rains caused rain-soaked soil to cascade down, killing 17 people in different parts of the province, said assistant civil defense director Nigel Lontoc.

“They were surprised by the rain. It happened before dawn so they might have been asleep at the time,” he told AFP.

“This is mountainous area and there are many houses on the slopes. The rain must have really weakened the soil,” he added.

A 67-year-old woman drowned when her home was submerged by a flood in Olongapo City, also in Zambales, he added.

The mayor of Subic town, Jay Khonghun, where the majority of victims died, said the heavy rains and chest-deep floods had isolated the town of 160,000.

(LinkAsia: 9/20/13)

On September 9th, as many as 200 heavily armed separatists from the Moro National Liberation Front attacked the city of Zamboanga. Over 100 people have been killed, and tens of thousands displaced. LinkAsia’s Noel Tarrazona reports from Zamboanga City, and then we speak with the Asia Foundation’s Philippines country representative, Steven Rood.

PHOTO: Government soldiers take cover near armoured vehicles as they try to assault the positions of Muslim rebels from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), during a gunbattle in Zamboanga city in southern Philippines: REUTERS/Erik De Castro

Philippine president calls on rebels to surrender

Bullit Marquez / AP Photo

Smoke rises in sporadic fighting between government forces and Muslim rebels Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013 in Zamboanga city in southern Philippines. Life in the city at the center of a hostage crisis is slowly returning to normal, as troops went house-to-house Wednesday searching for the remaining Muslim rebels and their hostages in a standoff that displaced more than 100,000 people.

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — The Philippine president called on the last rebel holdouts holding residents hostage in coastal communities in the south to surrender Thursday and prevent further bloodshed as a major government offensive to end an 11-day standoff crawled toward an end.

More than 200 Moro National Liberation Front rebels stormed five communities on the coastal outskirts of Zamboanga city on Sept. 9 and took about 200 residents hostage. A ground, sea and air offensive by 4,500 soldiers and police has left about 40 insurgents holding around 20 hostages, officials said.

Assault troops have calibrated their firepower to protect trapped civilians, slowing down an offensive by an overwhelming number of troops, the military said.

Fresh clashes killed an army commando and six rebels Thursday. Some of the gunmen set clusters of houses on fire in the hard-hit community of Sta. Catalina in an apparent effort to cover their escape, while 15 insurgents, all looking famished and exhausted, emerged from a mangrove and surrendered, police said.

The storm is set to roar between the Philippines and Taiwan before hammering the southern Chinese coast

A monster Super Typhoon has intensified explosively in the last 24 hours and remains on track to wreak havoc in Taiwan, the Philippines and potentially Hong Kong over the weekend.

Over the last day Super Typhoon Usagi, which is now the strongest storm to form on earth this year, has seen winds increase from 75mph on Tuesday to over 160 mph today. The cyclone is now classified now as a Super Typhoon and is considered the equivalent of a category 5 hurricane.

The storm, which is expected to maintain its current strength for at least the next 24 hours, is on course to dump 1000mm of rain (three times the annual London rainfall) on Taiwan over the next three days. The storm is set to roar between the Philippines and Taiwan before hammering the southern Chinese coast, and possibly Hong Kong, later in the weekend.

Experts have said that due to the lack of ‘hurricane hunter’ aircraft in the Pacific they can’t accurately measure how strong the storm is, and that it may be even stronger.

According to Quartz one satellite-based estimate ranks the storm as the most powerful on the planet since 1984, having a minimum central pressure of 882 millibars.

Typhoon Usagi will first batter coastal Taiwan bringing with it damaging winds, a significant storm surge and heavy and persistent rain, before heading towards Hong Kong.

Peak winds are at that time predicted to have weakened to around 100mph.

The Philippines has evacuated northern coastal villages, suspended ferry services and called in fishing boats as an approaching category 5 storm, already labelled a super-typhoon, gained strength on a path set for southern China.

With winds of 127 mph, typhoon Usagi, the strongest storm to hit the western Pacific this year, was moving north-west between the Philippines and Taiwan and headed for Hong Kong and south China.

China’s Xinhua news agency said preparations were being made for an “emergency response” in southern coastal areas.

Storm alerts have been raised on the rice and coconut-growing island of Batanes and 15 provinces on the main Philippines island of Luzon, the weather bureau said.

“Our people there know the drill, but we have also issued warnings to take safety precautions,” the budget secretary, Florencio Abad, said. “We’re praying it doesn’t create death and destruction.”

A typhoon hit Batanes in 1987, destroying all roads as the water level surged as high as seven metres. “All our coconut trees broke in half,” Abad said.

Power and communications in the area have been cut off for safety reasons and hospitals were put on alert as disaster agencies stocked up on food and water. Troops were also put on standby.

This image was taken by the Japan Meteorological Agency’s MTSAT-2 satellite at 0730Z on September 20, 2013. (NOAA)

Super typhoon Usagi, 2013′s strongest storm on the planet, may have peaked in intensity, but remains an extremely dangerous cyclone as it continues on a collision course with southern Taiwan and, likely, Hong Kong.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center says Osagi’s maximum sustained winds are 150 mph, the equivalent of a category 4 hurricane. That’s down from at least 160 mph Thursday (category 5 level). But this is a mammoth storm, tropical storm force winds span 275 miles across it.

You see the cloud-free, distinct eye which is surrounded by tall thunderstorms on all sides.

Due to a re-arrangement of its internal structure since that time, known as an eye-wall replacement cycle, Usagi has lost some steam and its satellite presentation – while impressive – is less than perfect.

Usagi infrared satellite view 1:14 p.m. ET Friday (NOAA)

Its eye is somewhat ragged, and deep convection (a fancy term for thunderstorms) is less pronounced in its northeast quadrant.

What’s next for Usagi?

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center predicts additional weakening as Usagi’s circulation is disrupted by Taiwan. Usagi will batter Taiwan’s south and east coast with damaging winds, torrential range, massive waves, and a dangerous storm surge today into Saturday. The storm’s rain bands have already begun to lash coastal areas.

Earth Watch Report – Technological Disasters

…..

Ferry with more than 800 aboard sinks after collision in Philippine port; at least 24 dead

(Chester Baldicantos/ Associated Press ) – A Filipino trooper explains how he survived as their ship sank in Cebu, central Philippines late Friday Aug. 16, 2013. Passenger ferry MV Thomas Aquinas with nearly 700 people aboard sank near the central Philippine port of Cebu on Friday night after colliding with a cargo vessel, and a survivor said he saw bodies in the sea.

(Chester Baldicantos/ Associated Press ) – A Filipino trooper explains how he survived as their ship sank in Cebu, central Philippines late Friday Aug. 16, 2013. Passenger ferry MV Thomas Aquinas with nearly 700 people aboard sank near the central Philippine port of Cebu on Friday night after colliding with a cargo vessel, and a survivor said he saw bodies in the sea.

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, August 16, 8:04 PM

MANILA, Philippines — A ferry with more than 800 people aboard sank near the central Philippine port of Cebu after colliding with a cargo vessel, killing at least 24 people. Hundreds of others were rescued, the coast guard said Saturday.

Dozens were still missing, but authorities could not give an official figure.

More than 200 are killed, the Muslim Brotherhood says, as both sides dug in for a long fight.

The captain of the ferry MV Thomas Aquinas ordered the ship abandoned after it began listing

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, August 16, 8:04 PM

MANILA, Philippines — A ferry with more than 800 people aboard sank near the central Philippine port of Cebu after colliding with a cargo vessel, killing at least 24 people. Hundreds of others were rescued, the coast guard said Saturday.Dozens were still missing, but authorities could not give an official figure.

More than 200 are killed, the Muslim Brotherhood says, as both sides dug in for a long fight.

The captain of the ferry MV Thomas Aquinas ordered the ship abandoned after it began listing and then sank after the collision late Friday, coast guard officer Joy Villegas said.

Cebu coast guard chief, Cmdr. Weniel Azcuna, said 24 people, including children, were confirmed dead and 629 passengers had been rescued by early Saturday.

Speaking by telephone from Cebu, Azcuna said they were still searching the waters for survivors. He also said authorities were still trying to determine the actual number of people on board.

In a statement, ferry owner 2Go said the roll-on-roll-off ship had 723 passengers and 118 crew or a total of 841 people aboard and carried 104 20-foot (6-meter) steel containers.

It said the ferry “was reportedly hit” by the cargo vessel “resulting in major damage that led to its sinking.”

Azcuna said the coast guard was still focused on rescue off Cebu, 570 kilometers (350 miles) south of Manila, and will begin investigations later.

Navy divers told reporters at the scene of the collision, about 2 kilometers from the shore, that they saw several dead bodies still underwater.

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